[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 113 (Monday, July 29, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1394-E1395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                INDIA CONFIRMS MASS CREMATIONS OF SIKHS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 29, 1996

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, once again India's genocide 
against the Sikhs has been exposed. Just Monday, July 22, India's 
Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] told the Supreme Court that it 
had confirmed that ``bodies tagged as `unidentified' by Punjab Police 
had been disposed of surreptitiously during 1990-95,'' according to the 
India Express of July 23.
  The CBI told the court that it had prima facie evidence of almost 
1,000 cremations by the police, and its investigation is ongoing. 
However, police officials are making it very difficult for the CBI to 
get information. The court said that if this behavior continues, it 
will constitute contempt of court. According to human rights activist 
Jaswant Singh Khalra, who first exposed the mass cremations, over 
25,000 young Sikh men have disappeared and subsequently been cremated 
by the police.
  Mr. Speaker, these are very significant admissions by the Indian 
regime. An agency of the Indian Government is admitting that the police 
were involved in the murder of Mr. Khalra, that the mass cremation 
scheme is ongoing, and that police officials are trying to cover up 
these atrocities by burying the information. The justices of the 
Supreme Court labeled these acts ``worse than a genocide.'' They said 
that ``we shudder to think that such a thing could happen in a 
democracy.''
  These events prove not only that India is a long way from being a 
real democracy, but that it could even be branded an authoritarian 
police state which commits acts of genocide against the diverse peoples 
living under its rule. Is it any wonder that so many of them are 
struggling to free themselves from this brutal regime? I urge my 
colleagues to consider carefully whether this is the kind of country we 
should be propping up with hard-earned dollars of the American 
taxpayers.
  I thank Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, president of the Council of 
Khalistan, for bringing this report to my attention. As you know, Dr. 
Aulakh and his organization have worked for several years to secure 
freedom for Khalistan, the Sikh homeland which declared its 
independence on October 7, 1987. The case of the cremations, as well as 
the beating of a Sikh leader in the Delhi airport, and the continuing 
detention of an American citizen on what have now been proven to be 
false charges, show why this struggle is vital to the survival of Sikhs 
and others in the South Asian subcontinent. The Council of Khalistan 
has issued a press release on this story, and I would like to place 
this in the Congressional Record. It is time to end the oppression in 
India.

                [From the Indian Express, July 23, 1996]

                  Cops Cremated 1,000 as Unidentified

       New Delhi, July 22.--The Supreme Court was today told by 
     the CBI that it had found enough material and evidence to 
     show that as many as 1,000 bodies tagged as ``unidentified'' 
     by the Punjab Police had been disposed of surreptitiously 
     during 1990-95.
       A 74-page preliminary report submitted by the CBI to a 
     division bench comprising Justice Kuldip Singh and Justice 
     Saghir Ahmed has stated that on the basis of the material 
     collected during the probe ordered by the court, it had prima 
     facie found that a total of 984 bodies had been cremated by 
     the police on the ground that they were ``laawaris'' 
     (unidentified).
       Expressing their ``horror and shock'' at the finding the 
     judges in a brief order directed the CBI to continue its 
     inquiry into the matter and issue a general direction to the 
     public authorities or government officers to hand over any 
     information regarding the issue to the CBI.
       The court ordered the DIG (Border) Punjab Police, B.S. 
     Sandhu to hand over all relevant records regarding the 
     cremation of bodies of unidentified persons to the CBI 
     without any further delay. The direction came after the 
     additional solicitor general K.T.S. Tulsi told the court that 
     there was some delay in those records being handed over to 
     the CBI.
       The court warned that any further delay in handing over the 
     records to the CBI by Sandhu would amount to violation of its 
     orders and would attract contempt of court.
       The judges observed that this incident of disposal of 
     bodies of unidentified persons was ``worst than a genocide.''
       ``We shudder to think of such a thing happening in a 
     democracy,'' the judges said.
       Adjourning the hearing in the matter to October 7 to enable 
     the CBI to submit its final report the judges asked the CBI 
     to speed up the probe.
       In another report the CBI told the court that it had 
     investigated into the murder of a human rights activist 
     Jaswant Singh Khalra and had found several policemen were 
     involved in the case.
       It sought the court's permission also to file three 
     separate cases in the killings of three other persons by 
     Punjab policemen.
                                                                    ____


          ``Worse Than A Genocide,'' Says Indian Supreme Court

       Washington, DC, July 24.--According to a report in 
     yesterday's Indian Express, India's Central Bureau of 
     Investigation (CBI) today admitted in court that it had 
     amassed evidence that ``bodies tagged as `unidentified' by 
     the Punjab Police had been disposed of surreptitiously.'' In 
     a 74-page preliminary report on its ongoing investigation, 
     CBI admitted that it had ``prima facie found that a total of 
     984 bodies had been cremated by the police'' after being 
     labelled ``unidentified.''
       The Court ordered local police chiefs to turn over any 
     information they have on the subject to CBI. The justices 
     warned that any further delay in turning over these records 
     would be considered contempt of court.
       On September 6, 1995, Jaswant Singh Khalra, General 
     Secretary of the Human Rights Wing (Shiromani Akali Dal), was 
     kidnapped by the Punjab Police after publishing a report 
     showing that over 25,000 young Sikhs had been abducted by the 
     regime, tortured, killed, then declared ``unidentified'' and 
     cremated. After the report was published, the police chief of 
     the Tarn Taran district told Mr. Khalra, ``We made 25,000 
     disappear. It would not be hard to make one more disappear.'' 
     The CBI reported to the court that Mr. Khalra was murdered in 
     custody, and that it ``had found several policemen were 
     involved in the case,'' according to Indian Express.
       Calling these cremations ``worse than a genocide,'' the 
     justices also stated that ``We shudder to think of such a 
     thing happening in a democracy.''

[[Page E1395]]

       ``This is a major admission by the Indian regime,'' said 
     Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of 
     Khalistan. ``The CBI report has begun to lift the veil that 
     has hidden the truth from the outside world,'' he said. 
     ``Finally they have conceded that the police have undertaken 
     mass cremation of Sikhs. This clearly demonstrates that India 
     is not the democracy is claims to be, but a tyranny that is 
     running a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Sikhs and 
     others.''
       ``This is just one more piece of evidence that there is no 
     place for Sikhs in an Indian `democracy' that has murdered 
     over 150,000 Sikhs since 1984,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``Only by 
     liberating Khalistan from this reign of terror will we secure 
     the blessings of liberty for the Sikh Nation,'' he said. 
     Khalistan is the independent Sikh country declared on October 
     7, 1987. The Council of Khalistan, as its government in 
     exile, leads the peaceful, democratic, nonviolent struggle 
     for an independent Khalistan. ``It is time for Sikhs to claim 
     their right to be free,'' Dr. Aulakh said.

                          ____________________